Weird Melvin Volume II : The Comic Strip (Weird Melvin)

Rating:
Summary: "Holy Hog-Wild Humpers!"
Review: After takin' a liking to Marc Hansen's "Ralph Snart" comics (check out the Ralph Snart TPB, Vol. 1 at www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0974520519/qid=1098332071/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/102-8646183-3962510?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 ), I decided to check out some of Mr. Hansen's other published works. The appropriately titled "Weird Melvin", featuring the bizarre misadventures of a monstrous monster hunter and his fanboy young'un buddy as they dispatch freaky-lookin' monsters in grotesquely funny ways, seemed good a place as any to start. So I gave this particular tome-- a collection of all the "Weird Melvin" strips that originally appeared in the weekly Comic Buyer's Guide back in 1992 and `93-- a look. While I didn't find this collection of freaky cartoon goodness gut-bustingly funny, I did manage to crack a smile or two at, this odd tribute to "for-the-love-of-the-hobby" comic-book collectors and the renderings of "Rat Fink" creator Ed "Big Daddy" Roth combined with a satirical spin on the infamous EC horror comics of the 50s thrown in for added silliness.

While I had a good time readin' this "Weird" funnybook, its format isn't quite perfect. Due to the relatively small size of the panels, I had a little trouble reading the captions and word balloons. On the upside, this tome has the best print quality I've ever seen in a NOW Comics TPB release; there aren't any vertical pinstripe lines or blank splotches where the plate didn't get a full press on the page during the printing process. Yep, it looks like NOW is finally puttin' some real money into the whole printing thing... which might explain this 50-page-long (NOT the 128 pages the product page blurb states) softcover tome's fifteen-smacker price tag! `Course, I guess I can't personally complain about the cover price, seein' as how I got hooked up with this for nary a penny (thanks, big guy!)...

`Late